Can using an exact sentence from your content as meta description hurt?
-
Hi Mozzers!
I'm uploading some press releases and the first sentence makes a perfect meta description. Would using the exact same wording ever hurt my rankings?
Thanks!
-
OK, now you don't want some very aggressive call to action sentence. I'd try to avoid words like "best", "leading" etc.
Try to describe what your website offers in a sentence.
-
This wont hurt at all. In fact, Google often uses a snippet from your content as the meta description.
With a meta description, your goal is to optimize for a click. So for that reason, the first sentence may not be you're best option.
-
Agreed, thanks for chiming in Chris!
-
Nope. Your description should help enhance your click through rate, though, so orient it towards a call to action.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Exact match keyword phrases, are they still really important to search engines?
This has been bugging me for a while now and I'd like to know what you guys think. I often find what I can only described as 'oddities' in our rankings for certain search terms. For example, we might rank top 5 for 'A5 week view diary' and then second page for 'Week view diaries A5'. (Not an actual example, I just find stuff like this all the time across our various pages) They are basically the same query, so I don't understand why so often there is such a discrepancy. I can only put this down to exact match keyword phrase still being an important ranking factor. What do you guys think? Are exact match phrases still an important part of the SERP results? Thank you. Isaac.
Keyword Research | | isaac6630 -
How can improve my keywords ranking?
My keywords are not in top in 50.So, what kind of activity we do to get in top in 50 rank?
Keyword Research | | surabhi60 -
Used 'wrong' keywords in blog posts, should I go back and edit?
I have a bout 70 blog articles spanning about 2 years. Because I hadn't done proper SEO research, I used the term I thought made the most sense when talking about my services. However now that I have done my homework, I realize that the term I like, is not actually the term most people use to search. Very few of these articles are time sensitive and mostly generic best practice kind of stuff. I'm not talking about keyword stuffing, simply going back and replacing one poorly chosen keyword with one that people are actually searching for where it occurs naturally in the course of the article. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Keyword Research | | sea2dca0 -
Meta tag question
Through research our competitors have created independent product codes like FT-5750 and are using it as an independent SKU#, when I search this product code they are the only search result. can we use their abbreviated SKU# in our meta tag or keywords to show up in the SERP? Thanks, Michelle & Blake
Keyword Research | | LeapOfBelief0 -
Does combining keywords in the page title help or hurt you?
I am working on a site which sells elliptical equipment. I used Google Adwords to determine number of searches on the following keywords: Elliptical trainer – 3.,600 searches Elliptical machine – 14,800 searches Elliptical trainer machine - 22 searches I am currently optimizing “elliptical trainer” – but after seeing results above would also like to optimize “elliptical machine”. My question is: if I add “machine” to “elliptical trainer” will Google now only read “elliptical trainer machine” or will it read “elliptical machine” in addition to “elliptical trainer”. How do you know what word or “chunk” of words Google picks up?
Keyword Research | | ChristieC1 -
How to best utilize keywords using All in One SEO
Please forgive my noob questions here. I'm using Wordpress with All in One SEO. I'm launching a new video production company (www.heartwavemedia.com) and have spent the last few months building a website for it in my spare time. Visually and structurally, it's there but I'm just beginning to tackle SEO. I've read a fair amount on the subject but I'm unclear on the following: 1. Regarding the All in One SEO "keywords" field on each page, are more or less keywords better? 2. Should I be using a long list of broad, industry relevant keywords that are plugged into every page (where All in One SEO gives you the "keywords" field) or should each page be targeting a more specific set of keywords? Alternatively, is it appropriate to do that sometimes but not others? For example should I be casting a wide net with my home page and then get laser precise with subsequent pages? 3. Is my goal to pick one (or two or three) keywords that my research leads me to believe I could get some traction with and write copy referencing them across my entire site or to spread them around? 4. Is it absolutely necessary to include keyword rich copy for each page or doe's the "keyword" field address that need? Are they read the same by SEs or do they complement each other? 5. On a scale of 1-10, how infuriating are the previous 4 questions? In the event that your head hasn't exploded, I appreciate your forthcoming advice!
Keyword Research | | keeot0 -
What came first the content or the keyword research?
So I've been searching high and low to try and answer this. I just cant seem to get this part down and i know its the most important part. I always run into the issue where i am building a e commerce or some other site and i have it all set up but no content. So i start doing keyword research. In which the market niche that i am working on now is really broad, so its really hard to research. I then end up getting frustrated because the competition for the words are really high. But back on track, i get frustrated and then kaboom! i don't get the results i want and i am back to square one and no content is made or nothing. So my webpage gets nothing. So i took a step back and wondered, should i make all the content first and then the keyword research and then go back and "revise" my website content with all my keywords that i a trying to target? Sounds like a dumb question but i just wanted feedback and input on how people do this and go forth with everything.
Keyword Research | | Dante130 -
Google keyword tool [exact match]
Hey there, I'm trying to work out what my next big course to run will be. I want to know if my technique is a good gauge of popularity. I'm using Google's keyword tool specifically for New Zealand. I'm typing in a course topic e.g Photoshop Courses and looking at the exact match results to see if there might be a market for that course. Broad match seems to offer up a lot more numbers but seem a bit vague. Am i right to think 'After Effects Training' wouldn't be a popular course as it returns a (<10) local monthly result while 'Photoshop Courses' might be ok as it has a (46)? **I'd appreciate any insight. ** Dan
Keyword Research | | danielfromnz
- the Adobe Trainer0